Case Study #27 Q-PAC Plastic

“Q-PAC® showed a substantial savings in electrical power costs with an
annual savings of more than $8,300 per year and did not plug!”

The Problem

The city of Pittsfield, Massachusetts purchased two acid scrubbing towers for their Municipal incinerator. The scrubbers had to perform at unusually high particulate loadings, forcing change-out of packing every 3-4 months. Because the plant cannot operate without the scrubbers and because a plant shutdown is scheduled once a year, it was imperative to find a packing or system that could resist plugging for at least 12 months.

Why Q-PAC® was Used

Q-PAC® was selected because of its large void fraction and widely spaced grid-and-needle design, which promised reduced fouling and a much lower pressure drop. The better fouling characteristics were necessary to reduce high maintenance costs and the low pressure drop was essential to reduce operating costs.

A comparison done between Q-PAC® and 2K Tellerettes projected substantial savings in electrical power usage. Based on an average of $0.132 per KWH, an operating year of 8,000 hours, and a motor efficiency of 80%, the savings in electric power would be $986/BHP-year– an annual savings of $8,362.

Finally, Q-PAC’s performance had been substantiated by numerous studies and real- world applications, and was guaranteed by LANTEC with a 100% performance warranty.

In April 1998 the towers packed with Tellerettes showed pressure drops in excess of 4.0″ WC, indicating plugging. Kevin Rousseau of EAC decided to take a general plant shutdown as an opportunity to replace the old packing with Q-PAC®.

Meeting the Requirements

The next scheduled shutdown was in July 1999. By that time, Q-PAC® had been in service for 15 months, yet the packing showed no sign of being plugged. So EAC decided not to change it out, but to leave the Q-PAC® in the scrubbers for a second consecutive year.

In a process with heavy particulate loading, the patented plugging-resistant design of Q-PAC® made it possible to operate scrubbers 5-8 times longer between packing change-outs (1-2 years vs. 3-4 months).

Comparing the fan power usage of Q-PAC®with the original packing, Q-PAC® gave a savings in electric power costs of more than $8,000 per year!